The NHL Trade Deadline is fast approaching, and the Vancouver Canucks have a massive decision to make on the direction the team is going.

It has been reported that ownership values a playoff run and is looking to add to the forward group. But the fanbase wants to sell.

Currently sitting outside of the playoffs, with how the team is playing and the unknown injury status of their captain and best player Quinn Hughes, this author would agree with the fans that selling off expiring assets to not lose out on their value makes the most sense.

However, it doesn’t seem like that’s the direction this team is heading in.

It appears that the team is going to add to the group before Friday’s NHL Trade Deadline to make a push toward the playoffs. In doing so, when a team adds a player, there are assets that need to be shipped out to entice opposing teams to acquire said players.

Well, what exactly are those assets the Canucks have that other teams would be interested in? Let’s dive in.

In a rare occasion, the Canucks still have a lot of their draft capital over the next few seasons. Here are their available draft picks for the following three seasons:

2025 – 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th.

2026 – 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th.

2027 – 1st, 3rd, 4th, 4th (Chicago), 5th, 6th and 7th.

The Canucks don’t have a third in the two upcoming draft, but they’ll pick in the second round – if they don’t trade those picks – for the first time since they selected Danila Klimovich 41st overall in the 2021 draft. You have to go all the way back to the 2019 draft to find the last player drafted in the second round to play a game in Vancouver, Nils Höglander, selected 40th overall.

Fast forward to the 2027 draft, where the Canucks will be without their second round pick, which was helped to move Ilya Mikheyev’s money out to Chicago. However, they still have their third and a more valuable Blackhawks fourth-round pick.

We wrote about it earlier today, but the 2025 draft class is considered to be much weaker than the 2026 draft class, and why the Canucks should look at acquiring picks in that draft. Read more on that by clicking here!

So, the more valuable asset would be the Canucks’ 2026 draft picks, but if they’re looking to add this season, it’s best to move off of picks in the 2025 class.

However, if teams are looking for assets that can help them sooner, they could look at adding prospects. While the Canucks prospect pool is rather bleak, there are six prospects that we’ve tiered who could hold value in a trade:

There are really only two A-level prospects: Jonathan Lekkerimäki and Tom Willander.

Lekkerimäki ranked as our number one prospect in our midseason prospect rankings, and for good reason. The Swedish winger has an NHL-level shot and could be the in-house Brock Boeser replacement if he is traded or walks in free agency. It would take a lot for the Canucks to move off of him. We don’t anticipate them entertaining such a deal unless they get blown away with an NHL top-six forward with term that helps the team win now – and even then, it’s hard to imagine that happening.

Willander was second in our midseason prospect rankings. After Boston University’s season concludes, he is expected to sign with the Canucks, and trading him for assets now before seeing him with the organization. Considering the future of the right-side defence, it feels that Willander might be even more untouchable than Lekkerimäki. They seemed to have figured out their defence for the time being, so trading Willander for a defenceman to help now also wouldn’t make much sense.

It doesn’t sound like the club is willing to pull off a massive move for this season, which would need to involve trading one of the team’s two most valuable assets.

We’ve got a pair of defencemen in the B-tier: Victor Mancini and Sawyer Mynio.

Mancini was recently acquired as a part of the piece in the JT Miller trade. He is a former fifth-round pick who got a cup of coffee with the New York Rangers earlier this season when he surprisingly made the team out of training camp. The 22-year-old defenceman scored five points in 15 games with the Rangers, and has now made his Canucks debut. Given he is a right-shot defenceman, and those are so coveted around the league, Mancini’s 6’3″ frame could be a nice sweetener to throw into a potential trade. However, given that he was just acquired, the team would likely want to see more from him before they entertain a trade.

Mynio is currently playing for the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. He will look to turn pro this offseason, but given Mynio was put on display at this past year’s World Junior Championship, representing Team Canada. This gave teams a first glance at Mynio and could have boosted the former third-round pick’s stock into something NHL teams would likely value in a deal.

We’ll round out our tiers with two players currently playing down in Abbotsford: Aatu Räty and Kirill Kudryavtsev.

Räty was the main prospect that came back in the Bo Horvat trade. He has shown flashes, especially in the faceoff dot, in which he found success with a unique technique. That alone should put him on notice around the league as a bottom-six centre who can win key faceoffs. Räty’s streaky point-producing down at the AHL level brings him down from a B to a C-level prospect, but one with still a little value other teams could target as a throw-in to get a deal across the finish line.

Kudryavtsev is a pleasant surprise for the Canucks prospect pool. Being a seventh-round pick, those typically don’t translate to a valued prospect in teams’ prospect pool. However, the 20-year-old right-shot defenceman has done just that. He’s shown promise down in Abbotsford this year with 23 points through 47 games. Kudryavtsev has the tools to at least entice opposing teams in trade negotiations.

We should at least mention Elias Pettersson, the defenceman. Considering how well he’s playing in the NHL right now, we didn’t want to include him here. He’s at a very cost-controlled cap hit and is leaving the Canucks no choice but to play him and might be forcing Carson Soucy out of the building. So, it’s hard to imagine the club subtracting him from the team’s current blueline.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Which of these draft picks or tiered prospects would you be comfortable with the Canucks moving off of at this years NHL Trade Deadline if it’s a move to help the team win now? Let us know in the comments below!